ٱلَّذِينَ إِن مَّكَّنَّٰهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ أَقَامُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَءَاتَوُا۟ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَأَمَرُوا۟ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَنَهَوْا۟ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ وَلِلَّهِ عَٰقِبَةُ ٱلْأُمُورِ
Alladhīna in makkannāhum fi'l-arḍi aqāmu'ṣ-ṣalāta wa ātawu'z-zakāta wa amarū bi'l-maʿrūfi wa nahaw ʿani'l-munkar · Wa lillāhi ʿāqibatu'l-umūr
"They are those who, if We give them power and place on the earth, keep up the prayer, pay the alms, enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. And to God belongs the end of all affairs."
The root م-ك-ن: place, location; to set a thing in its place. Makān, tamkīn, mumkin are of the same root. In Form II, makkana: to make one possessed of a place, to give means and power.
The root was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/26 (wa laqad makkannāhum fīmā in makkannākum fīh) — there the means given to the people of ʿĀd were described. I rely on that treatment.
| Place | Verb | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| al-Aḥqāf 46/26 | Makkannāhum — given (past) | Fa-mā aghnā ʿanhum — it availed them nothing |
| al-Ḥajj 22/41 | In makkannāhum — were it given (conditional) | Aqāmu'ṣ-ṣalāta… — four verbs |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the difference of the two patterns: al-Aḥqāf describes how a means already given went to waste; al-Ḥajj describes how a means yet to be given would be used. One is a reckoning of the past, the other a condition upon the future.
| Order | al-Ḥajj 22/41 | Luqmān 31/17 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aqāmu'ṣ-ṣalāta | Aqimi'ṣ-ṣalāta |
| 2 | Wa ātawu'z-zakāta | — |
| 3 | Wa amarū bi'l-maʿrūf | Wa'mur bi'l-maʿrūf |
| 4 | Wa nahaw ʿani'l-munkar | Wa'nha ʿani'l-munkar |
| 5 | — | Wa'ṣbir ʿalā mā aṣābak |
The first difference: the alms are in the al-Ḥajj list and not in Luqmān. I give this as my own reading, and its ground is the context of the lists: the list in Luqmān is a father's counsel to his son — a list of personal responsibility. The list in al-Ḥajj is the list of one who holds power — and the alms are the only item that requires a disposal over property.
The second difference: patience is in Luqmān and not in al-Ḥajj. As recorded in Luqmān, the item of patience there answered to the natural consequence of the second and third commands: the price of saying something to people. That item is absent from the al-Ḥajj list — because the list is not the list of the party who pays the price but of the party who has the means.
I give these two observations as my own reading; their ground is the difference in the addressees of the two verses.
| Order | Verb | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aqāmu'ṣ-ṣalāt | Upward — between the servant and God |
| 2 | Ātawu'z-zakāt | Downward — between the servant and the needy |
| 3 | Amarū bi'l-maʿrūf | Horizontal, positive |
| 4 | Nahaw ʿani'l-munkar | Horizontal, negative |
I record this as an observation about word order: the list opens on the vertical axis and then passes to the horizontal. And the vertical axis is set as the first business of power.
The root ع-ق-ب: heel, the back of a thing; what comes after a thing. ʿĀqiba — what comes at the end.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is where the sentence stands in the verse: the verse enumerates what power will do, and then says to whom the outcome belongs. The relation between the two sentences is this: the works to be done belong to man, the outcome does not.
And this agrees with a line the sūra has drawn earlier: in the fifteenth verse kayd (the laying of a scheme) produced no outcome; in the thirty-eighth the agent of the defence was God. In all three places man's share is separated from the outcome.